Hepatitis C is a blood-borne disease that infects approximately 150-200 million individuals worldwide. Hepatitis C is a viral disease that is caused by a hepatropic virus, HCV (Hepatitis C Virus). Infection with HCV results in liver inflammation which can ultimately result in cirrhosis and liver cancer. Although many individuals do not exhibit symptoms related to hepatitis C infection, it is the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.
Although science was aware of the hepatitis A and B viruses for decades, it was not until the late 1980s that discovery of hepatitis C virus was published for the medical and scientific communities. The discovery confirmed that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A and B viruses, but instead were due to the newly discovered hepatitis C virus. With the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, the need arose for methods to treat the virus and to understand the urstructural and replication process performed by the virus.
HCV is a small, enveloped, single stranded, positive sense RNA virus in the family Flaviviridae. HCV mainly replicates within hepatocytes. HCV particles bind to receptors on the surfaces of hepatocytes and subsequently enter the cells. The RNA genome encodes a single stranded polypeptide comprising of approximately 3000 amino acids.
Therapies for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)
Several different types of HCV therapies exist. One of the most common therapies involves using the combination of alpha-interferon and ribavirin. Even with this type of therapy many patients do not exhibit a reduction in viral activity. Accordingly, there is a clear long-felt and unresolved need to develop new effective therapeutics in the treatment of HCV infection.
The inventors have herein developed compositions and methods of improving the pharmacokinetics of HCV pharmaceutical agents (or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, esters, and prodrugs thereof) which are metabolized by cytochrome P450 monoxygenase comprising coadministering ritonavir or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt, ester, and prodrug thereof with such HCV compounds.